Why the long-awaited launch of Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown LRT is hardly worth celebrating

People ride the Eglinton Crosstown LRT on its first day of service in Toronto on Feb. 8. Photo by Laura Proctor/The Canadian Press files

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By now, the Eglinton Crosstown in Toronto is no longer merely a delayed transit line. It has become a case study in how not to plan, manage and communicate large-scale public infrastructure projects.

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For many years, Torontonians were fed tentative opening dates. After those dates passed, executives at Metrolinx, the provincial Crown agency overseeing the construction, refused to commit to a timeline, even as the project faced considerable delays and overspending.

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While the LRT finally started operating, albeit partially, on Feb. 8, its launch offers little reassurance to a weary public, given Metrolinx’ history of vague explanations and lack of accountability. The issue is no longer technical but institutional.

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The Eglinton Crosstown is a light-rail transit line running east-west on an exclusive right-of-way across Eglinton Ave., a main artery in mid-Toronto. The project’s central failure was not due to construction complexity, supply chain disruptions or even litigation over contract interpretation. It is the collapse of what governments owe citizens when they disrupt lives and spend public money: a duty of care rooted in efficiency, transparency and respect for taxpayers.

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When projects go off the rails, as large projects often do, the public deserves clear answers to three simple questions: What went wrong? How long will it take to fix? And how much will it cost? With the Crosstown, none of these questions has been answered consistently or credibly.

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The cost of the silence has been borne most heavily by communities situated along Eglinton Ave. Near Kennedy Station in the east, businesses have endured more than a decade of disruption. Storefront access has been restricted, sidewalks rerouted and traffic patterns constantly altered. For small businesses, these are not inconveniences; they are existential threats. Yet those most affected have been treated as bystanders, not stakeholders.

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This pattern is not unique. Across Ontario and beyond, projects linger for years without firm completion dates and no public accounting for delays. The message, intentionally or not, is that crown corporations can operate behind closed doors, insulated from the people who fund them.

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If there is one lesson to draw from the Crosstown, it is that public infrastructure demands radical transparency, not performative updates or carefully scripted press releases.

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Start with something simple. Every publicly-funded construction site should display the original budget and completion date in plain sight. If the deadline is missed, it should not be removed. It should be struck through, with the revised date and cost added below. Over time, citizens would see a visible record of decisions: a project, for example, that began as a 2011 $5-billion promise morphed into a 2026 $13-billion liability. Accountability must be mandatory, not optional.

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Transparency must also be procedural. Whenever a project deviates from plan, responsible agencies should be required to release two documents: a technical explanation for experts and a plain-language brief for the public. These reports should explain why the variation occurred, what corrective actions are being taken and how taxpayers will be affected.